The Rise of the Rider
by BurningSky
Summary: The rise of Uther Pendragon led to the fall of the riders, his reign leading to the destruction of all but one dragon along with their eggs, the surviving dragon captured and chained, or so everyone thought. / Warning Slash! Don't like don't read - simple


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**The last episode of series two with Balinor the Dragon Lord made me wonder why these few men could control the Dragons in such a way, at the time I was also re-reading one of the Inheritance Cycle books and thought it would be awesome if Merlin was a Dragon Rider... Anyone agree?  
****Anyway, it has taken me a while to put pen to paper - or in this case fingers to computer - But I have now had my college workload lessen quite significantly and found the time to write this chapter, and start working on the next one.**

Disclaimer: Based on the idea of Dragon Riders from the Inheritance Cycle, I do not claim rights of any of the BBC's Merlin characters or for Christopher Paolini's ideas.

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A heavy fog lingered over the countryside outside of Camelot, the walls surrounding the lower town barely visible from the Castle in the early morning light, as a single tall gangly male appeared like a spectre walking slowly through the fog, his jet black hair and clothes damp with the swirling water vapour in the air.

Merlin, the prince's manservant would usually be found in bed asleep at this time of the morning along with the rest of Camelot, but recently he had been acting a whole lot weirder then he usually would on a normal day. It started with the appearance of a large ruby red smooth stone; it was surprisingly heavy and seemed to hum with life as if it was a living and breathing organism. Initially he had attempted to sell the stone on for a high price, but it seemed it was too hard to be crafted for jewellery. When his curiosity began to increase Merlin began testing just how strong the stone was when free from Arthur's side, he began by attempting to break the stone by dropping it from varying heights and onto different surfaces, giving up after dropping it from the highest of the castle's towers with not even a scratch appearing on its surface. Finally Merlin reached for the pool of hidden magic within him, using it to probe the stone, upon doing so the egg shone with an inner light which Merlin quickly identified as magic, the light revealed a membrane of veins within revealing the stone to be in fact an egg. But what was in it, Merlin had no idea, until it hatched.

Merlin walked quickly through the lower town, hoping he would be able to reach Gaius's chambers before he or the rest of the castle woke up, not even the lower town merchants were up and ready yet which Merlin took as a good sign. He wasn't as late as he thought he was; he'd never had a puppy before not that he could compare the hatchling to a dog really seeing as it was growing incredibly fast and could now glide... but it was just as time consuming if not more so.

Merlin quickly entered the castle grounds and made his way for the large open oak doors and traipsed through the many hallways before coming across the door to the physician quarters which also housed his bedroom, eager to gain more sleep before being called to Arthur's side he quickly opened the door and shut it quietly behind him so as not to wake Gaius.

"Merlin, where have you been? Not getting into trouble I hope." Gaius spoke from the corner of the room looking over his glasses at Merlin as he straightened up from his hunched over position closing the cover of the book he had been reading.

"What are you doing up so early?" Merlin asked, skirting around the question that had been aimed at him.

"I could ask you the same question," he replied pausing as he stood up from the stool he was sitting on his hand still resting on the book. "I've been doing some research Merlin, regarding the stone you found. You see, I've noticed it's disappearance from your bedroom," Merlin began to shift uneasily as Gaius began to walk towards him.

"I urm... managed to find a merchant willing to take it, he thought it might be worth more in another kingdom."

"Your magic is also getting better." Gaius noted as he scanned Merlin's body, his eyes resting longer on Merlin's gloved hands.

"I've been practising," Merlin replied with a smile.

"I have a different theory," Gaius stated as he stood in front of Merlin. "Take your gloves off."

"I'd rather not," Merlin began, his smile weakening, "I have a horrible rash, I think it's contagious."

"All the more reason for me to look at it," Gaius replied, an eyebrow raised as he waited with his hands held out ready to expect Merlin's. Merlin sighed and began to slowly pull his right glove off not bothering to show his left hand to his guardian.

"I'm sorry" Merlin whispered as he showed his right palm to Gaius.

"What for Merlin? This in normal circumstances would be considered a blessing," Gaius examined the silver marking. "You shouldn't apologize; the dragon chooses the rider, if it wasn't meant to be it wouldn't have hatched for you."

"I thought they were all gone... Uther purged the lands of all dragons and their eggs."

"You're not the only one Merlin; a dragon hasn't been seen in many years let alone their eggs, where did you find this one?"

"I was walking through the woods by myself; Arthur had ridden off in search of a boar I had scared off. I was passing through a forest clearing with a flat boulder in the middle when I felt a surge in magical energy in the area, a small bluish orb suddenly appeared in the centre of the clearing along with whispered mutterings. The orb grew, sending out pulsing rings like ripples on water... it seemed to implode causing the light to disappear with the red egg appearing in its place.

"Whispered mutterings?" Gaius pondered becoming restless he walked slowly towards his bookshelf and pulled one off with weird runic markings on the spine. "This magic Merlin if I am correct, it isn't one you would be familiar with, the race was thought to have been extinct. Their link to the dragons led to their demise... or withdrawal from the world.

"I don't see why it came to me though, why would this race send it to me?" Merlin whispered.

"That doesn't matter right now Merlin, as long as the dragon is safe," Merlin nodded as Gaius continued. "Good, you had better make your way to Arthur's room, the King expects him at breakfast, and remember to keep your gloves on." Merlin nodded before leaving through the door he had come in, putting on his right gloves as he pushed his plan of sleeping to the back of his mind as he walked through the familiar corridors.  
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Review and let me know what you thought, it's good to get feedback and will encourage me to update . . . If you have the time to add to favourite and to subscribe it won't take much longer to just say whether you liked it or not and why :)**


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